News
CIPD launches Higher Apprenticeship in HR
Published on 11th September 2012 by Gareth Evans
Michelle Stevens from People Management outlines the launch of a programme to widen access to the HR profession
A new Higher Apprenticeship in Human Resource Management has been officially launched by the CIPD.
The institute hopes that the new programme will broaden access to careers in both business and HR, and provide a rich and diverse talent pool for the future.
The CIPD worked with Skills CFA – the business apprenticeships issuing authority – to develop the Higher Apprenticeship framework, following consultation with employers and training providers.
This new Level 5 apprenticeship is equivalent to the second year of a degree and will be available from this autumn.
Apprentices will gain a comprehensive understanding of the HR function through the programme, alongside practical experience of the workplace. Topics covered will include improving organisational performance, knowledge management, employment law, and resource and talent planning.
On completion, successful participants will gain a professional qualification and a pathway to associate membership of the CIPD.
By 2016, more than 700 people are expected to embark on the training, which has been supported by government funding of nearly £800,000.
The CIPD said that the scheme would provide a new recruitment offering for employers, and could attract talented people into the profession who might not otherwise have considered a career in HR.
As a champion of apprenticeships, it was a natural progression for the institute to introduce a Higher Apprenticeship for the HR profession itself, explained CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese.
“It is important to the credibility of the HR profession to do this and to promote this ourselves,” he said at the programme launch yesterday evening, and added that the new apprenticeship complemented the CIPD’s Learning to Work campaign, which aims to help young people enter the labour market.
“Apprenticeships fit into any profession or type of business,” he continued. “They deliver both business value and social value by giving young people different routes into work.”
Skills CFA chief executive, Jenny Hewell, who described the Higher Apprenticeship in HR as “an opportunity for apprentices to earn while they learn, and to develop themselves into high quality professionals in a short period of time, without going to university.”
Source: People Management
Link: http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2012/09/cipd-launches-higher-apprenticeship-in-hr.htm